September 23, 2013

Celebrate K-State's sustainability progress Oct. 6

Fall may be near, but the Kansas State University campus just keeps getting greener. From LEED certified buildings, dining hall composting, energy conservation and more, there's a lot to celebrate when it comes to the university's sustainability efforts.

And that's just what will happen at a special event Sunday, Oct. 6, to mark the beginning of comprehensive universitywide strategic planning for sustainability goals under K-State 2025. Students, faculty and staff are welcome to join in celebrating the university's sustainability accomplishments to date and find out what's planned for the future.

The celebration will include a poster session from 5-6 p.m. in Fiedler Atrium at the engineering complex that is open to all. A buffet dinner will follow at 6:30 p.m. in the K-State Student Union. It will include a presentation by Ben Champion, K-State's director of sustainability, who will present an overview of progress on sustainability at the university over the last five years.

Guest speaker for the dinner will be Jerry Schnoor, a professor of civil and environmental engineering from the University of Iowa. Schnoor is the Allen S. Henry chair in engineering, professor of occupational and environmental health and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he is known for his pioneering work using mathematical models in science policy decisions. He has testified several times before Congress on environmental protection, including the importance of passing the Clean Air Act of 1990. His research interests include environmental observatories, water quality modeling, global change and sustainability, and phytoremediation.

Schnoor also will present "Water Sustainability in a Changing World" for a chemical engineering department seminar at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in Fielder Auditorium. The seminar is free and the public is welcome.

In his seminar, Schnoor will discuss the drivers affecting water sustainability and potential solutions, including: adapting to a changing water world; reusing water directly and indirectly; developing resilient water infrastructure; and taking a more holistic management approach to the entire water cycle. According to Schnoor, mitigation and adaption to climate change are grand challenges of the 21st century that must be addressed to make real progress on water sustainability.

Editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Science and Technology since 2003, Schnoor chaired the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development from 2000-2004 and recently served on the EPA's Science Advisory Board and the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. His research and international leadership on water sustainability have been recognized with the Simon W. Freese Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize, both in 2010. This year, Schnoor was honored as an Einstein Professor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.